Online Betting USA

Online Sports Betting is your one-stop shop for all things digital gambling, including casino wagers. We not only direct you to the most reputable sites, but we offer advice on how to bet and insight into the process and laws that may be applicable to your situation. [+]

Online sports betting is billion-dollar industry. Each and every year, gamblers wager hundreds of billions of dollars across hundreds of digital sportsbooks. More recent projections have the internet betting field approaching the half-trillion-dollar mark on an annual basis. This is to say, sports enthusiasts of all kinds are familiar with the industry. Whether you’re an avid bettor, semi-routine investor, casual partaker or just a regular-Joe or regular-Jane fan who has yet to dip your feet into the world of online gambling, you know something, anything, about the industry.

The question is: How much do you really know? And the answer: Probably not as much as you might think.

Even the most frequent sportsbettors are often out of the loop to some extent. They become set in their ways. They stop looking for the best deals at sportsbooks. They aren’t fully versed in the complex laws attached to online bookies. They refuse to branch out from their betting methodology, even if different systems might be more profitable.

And for those of you new to the party, forget about it. There’s so much to know and learn and experiment with—arguably too much. That’s where we come in.

Best Online Betting Sites

The table below shows you the best online betting sites and sportsbooks we endorse. They are established and reputable, so you needn’t worry about running into deposit and withdrawal issues. [+]

This way, whether you’re in the market for your first sportsbook or your fifth, you’re able to compare and contrast all the potential opportunities at your disposal. From there, you’ll have an easier time picking the one that’s right for you.

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Online sports betting was initially about access. People living in the United States couldn’t just wake up and go to a sportsbook and place a bet. Excursions to Nevada have become a hit for a reason. They’re a break from the normal.

That has all changed follow the Supreme Court’s recent heel turn. Sports betting is not suddenly legal everywhere. Again: It’s up to the states (for now), as we outlined above. But access to overseas sportsbooks is no longer as paramount. You can place wagers from domestic providers in the comfort of your own home, without making a trip out of it. If you’re in a state that denounces the process, you’ll now have options available in closer alternative locations.

All of which means the focus for online sports betting has shifted. The market is now more diluted than not. Access isn’t overrated, but it’s not paramount, because it’s no longer scant.

Instead, betting online is about convenience and opportunity. This is a chance for you to get your fix and make some money without leaving, period. And whereas you needed to worry about using overseas sportsbooks in the past as United States citizen, that concern no longer exists—provided, of course, you’re working within the letter, or at least the gray areas of, the new laws.

Online Sports Betting Reviews

All sports bettors are different. Some might only bet on a certain sports or sporting events while others prefer to place bigger wagers on every sport played throughout the year. Just as every sports bettor is different, so is every sportsbook. Our reviews help online sports bettors select a sports betting site that fits his or her needs.[+]

Each sportsbook offers a wide variety of deposit and withdraw option. This is the first thing to review. Different sportsbook have different minimums and maximums on deposits and withdraws as well as wagers. You will want to make sure that the minimums or maximums meet your wagering style.

Sportsbooks might also have other restrictions on withdraws. Some sportsbooks will only allow you to withdraw a certain amount at a time and only so many times a month. This is important depending on the size of your bets. If you are wagering a small amount, you don’t want to sign-up with a sportsbook that has a high withdraw minimum. There are sportsbooks that charge for certain withdraw option such as Western Union or bank wire, while others only allow one free withdraw every week or month.

Sportsbooks all offer other promotions such as sign-up and reload bonuses. Most every sportsbook online offers some sort of sign-up bonus – usually a percentage of your initial deposit. Reload bonuses used to as common as sign-up bonuses. In recent years, some sportsbooks have either limited the bonus or eliminated them all together. Again, depending on the amount you are depositing, one sportsbook might be a better fit for you than another.

Please educate yourself with some of the best sportsbooks online such as Bodog, Sportsbook.com, BetUS.com, Sports Interaction and Bookmaker.com. Consult our reviews for these sportsbooks to pick the best fit for your wagering style.

List of Recommended Betting Sites

The web is home to a huge number of online sportsbooks and while these betting sites might all look similar on face value, the truth is that they vary a great deal up close. In this list of recommended betting sites you’ll also find that we identify a handful of rogue sportsbooks that we recommend avoiding at all cost.[+]

The main difference between a rogue sportsbook and a reputable sportsbooks is like night and day. Rogue sportsbooks are often fly-by-night operations that attempt to scam their customers out of their money. The biggest complaint from clients of rogue sportsbooks is the inability to collect their winnings. Many times these rogue sportsbooks will payout a percentage of the total amount of the payout request, but not the whole amount. This is often done hoping the player will continue to place wagers and lose the remaining amount in their account.

Potential scams can be snuffed out fairly easily. The most reputable sportsbooks have been around a while and will be reviewed and broken down on websites such as ours. If you cannot find information on a certain book, or if you are coming across mostly negative reviews, you’ll want to divert your attention to another website.

New-to-the-scene sportsbooks, of course, aren’t always a bad egg, but we recommend the more seasoned sites. Let the younger entities build up their equity and reputation before taking the plunge with them.

We have reviewed an abundance of online sportsbooks and compiled a list of the top five online sportsbooks. Bovada, Sportsbook.com, BetUS.com, Sports Interaction and Bookmaker.com have all been industry leaders for years. Their years of existence and quality service provide their players with the best online sports betting experience. Read our reviews for each of these sportsbooks and pick the one that best fits your wagering style.

Sports Betting Guide

Any self respecting sports bettor knows that proper online sports betting technique will result in bigger winnings. Developing a style and method that works best for you is the way to go, but how do you go about carving that out for yourself? Luckily, we’re here to help. Consult our online sports betting guide for a great step-by-step sports betting how-to.[+]

Our team of wagering experts goes into great detail about everything from the very basics of how to find the best odds, to more intermediate subjects such as sound money management techniques, to more professional subjects such as how to study sports betting stats and trends and what are the best odds comparison softwares available.

In short, everyone from novice sports bettors to professionals of the sports betting industry have something they can sink their hungry teeth into.So go on and read this betting guide before you make any more big mistakes that could cost you more money than you’re really looking to lose. The whole idea is to polish up on your skills so you know how to win at sports betting. And from there, it’s like riding a bike – you never forget!

Best Sign Up Bonus Offers

In the hyper competitive world that is the online betting industry, sign up bonuses often are the first interaction sportsbooks can have with potential clients. But what makes the best sign up bonus offers THE BEST? Through our detailed reviews of these offers’ inner workings, we’ll guide you through noise, and help you avoid the pitfalls of sneaky marketing. [+]

If we feature a sportsbook on our site, we’ll also review their bonus offer and various promotions. We feel that a book’s bonus is the crucial litmus test that will indicate whether a book is worth your time, or not.

It’s now more important than ever for you to aggressively hunt incentives. The push for legalization in the United States takes some leverage away from even the most reputable overseas sites. Domestic sportbooks and casinos won’t all of a sudden offer more bonuses themselves, but the mere uptick in accessibility creates a market of competition that wasn’t previously there in years past.

Online sportsbooks should be more creative with their promotions as a result. They don’t want to lose an existing customer-base to new opportunities. Look for them to up their game in the coming years—particularly as professional sports leagues join in on the fun and influence the betting market with endorsed sportsbooks applications of their own.

At this point, when you’re new to a specific website, you shouldn’t really be settling for anythign less than a 100 percent bonus. Be sure to ask about the rollover and limits in these scenarios, but overall, you should want your initial deposit to be matched dollar for dollar, up to at least $1,000.

Is It Legal To Bet On Sports In The US?

The United States no longer has so much of a taboo relationship with sports betting. In mid-May of 2018, the Supreme Court overturned a federal law passed in 1992 that, essentially, placed a ban on commercial sports betting across most states.

With due process having run its course, the sports gambling industry is, for the most part, now considered legal. Granted, there are a litany of exceptions. States still have the ultimate say in whether commercial wagering can take place within their lines. Not every government at that level will embrace this new-found legality.

Overall, though, the negation of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection act has already opened the floodgates for amended legislation in many states. New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Mississippi and West Virginia all had sports betting laws locked and loaded for this exact outcome, with more than a dozen others to follow suit.

Here’s a quick breakdown of where every state stands:

Fully Legalized sports betting

Delaware

Nevada

New Jersey

Bills That Were Recently Passed

Connecticut

Mississippi

New York

Pennsylvania

West Virginia

Bills In Progress (and Expected to Pass)

California

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Michigan

Missouri

Oklahoma

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Still Waiting On Bills to be Introduced

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

Colorado

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Maine

Massachusetts

Minnesota

Montana

Nebraska

New Hampshire

New Mexico

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oregon

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

Wyoming

This picture will change. In fact, it will only expand. And technically, if you’re already using online sportsbooks, this won’t impact you too much. It’s nearly impossible to monitor overseas websites. Citizens of the United States have been using those as gray-area workarounds for a while now.

Others forms of sports gambling will remain illegal. Using an actual bookie, for instance. It’s also unclear how certain states will treat sanctioned betting hubs. Some may strictly have officially endorsed websites. Others will have standing structures that, perhaps, include virtual casinos. Underground poker games—i.e. larger-scale tournaments—are not suddently okay.

Either way the mushrooming legality is generally good for online bettors. It borderline blows for overseas sportsbooks, who will have competition they haven’t regularly encountered before. But that only means they’ll go to greater lengths to draw in bettors. And that should, in turn, give way to better deposit bonuses and overall incentives—even for recurring customers.

Key Points To Using Legal Online Sports Betting Sites In The U.S.

Understanding the Legalities

Look, not all states are going to come out with bills that green light online sportsbetting. It will still remain illegal in certain areas.

But you’re no longer operating entirely in the wrong if you choose to ignore that stance. Online gambling will become too difficult to monitor from a federal and state level with all this increased action. Plus, how do you repudiate something in an official capacity when there’s a precedent being set across more than half the country that tilts toward the contrary?

Basically, your main concern now is finding the right sportsbook more so than anything else.

U.S. Customers Access

Certain online sportsbooks will still prove inaccessible to users in the United States. These companies are either blocking bettors from states without a sports betting policy in place or, more likely just blocking out U.S. customers altogether.

Do not interpret this as an end-all harbinger. The same does not apply across all sportsbooks. If you’re prevented from using one, you simply need to search out another.

In the event you’re truly worried about inadvertently breaking some type of law, you can always visit state-backed websites to see whether they have literature explicitly for online gambling. You’ll find that most don’t.

Online sportsbooks weren’t as prevalent when most states were trying to crack down. The act that was overturned in 2018 was passed in 1992, prior to the dot-com boom. So while state laws will typically mention specific examples like lotteries, casinos, poker rooms, standing sportsbooks and all that, they will usually exclude offshore gaming sites. Even when they were considered “illegal,” they were too difficult to monitor. It wasn’t worth it to the federal or state levels to try cracking down. So it’s certainly not likely to be a huge issue now.

Legal Obstacles for Deposits/Payouts

Bettors using overseas sportsbooks in states that take hardline stances against gambling will need to be smart about how their making deposits and payouts. Credit card transactions and bank wires can be easily rejected. They’re also easier to monitor.

If you’re going either of those routes anyway, try to keep your deposits and payouts to a happy medium. Banks will typically flag transactions that approach $10,000 at a time. You’ll need to keep this in mind if you’re worried about any tax or legal ramifications.

Alternative methods such as bitcoin, prepaid cards, wire transfers and money orders can be particularly useful in the most prickly situations. If possible, though, it’s always better to set up some sort of direct deposit to your card or account. You’re usually guaranteed to get your funds faster in that scenario. Those other workarounds should be viewed as more of a last resort, unless they’re a personal preference.

Different sportsbooks also allow for various payment methods. One site may welcome credit cards. Others may not. It’s important to do your research before attempting to make a deposit. The necessary information is usually somewhere on the front page or clearly marked in a tab, and it’s important you pick the site with the most convenient methods for you specifically.

The Importance of Shopping Around for Odds

Single-game and futures odds will vary by website. It’s important you surf around to find the odds that best fit the investment you’re trying to make. One sportsbook may be laying more enticing returns on an outcome you deem most likely.

Joining up with multiple sites is a good idea for this exact reason. You don’t want to go through the trouble of researching odds only to make a new account every time you find one that piques your attention. That’s fine on occasion, but the process gets annoying when done over and over.

Try finding between three and five sportsbooks that work for you and set up the necessary accounts. Our reviews will help. You don’t necessarily need to be super active on all of them. Your information just needs to be up to date enough so that you’re able to place new wagers at your leisure, without having to go through the sign-up process.

Impact of Increased Lega Sports Betting on Offshore Sportsbooks

At first blush, the increased legalization of sportsbooks in the United States should mean more action for overseas websites. But, really, these new laws are designed to steal their business.

Standing sportsbooks will start to be erected across different states as time wears on. More immediately, there will be an increase in domestic online sportsbooks. On top of that, leagues like the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, et al. will likely be getting a cut from some of the action placed in the states. That will compel them to incentivize certain domestic sportsbooks for their fans. We’ll see apps built left and right, with league’s inviting mid-game wagers on site.

Add it all up, and offshore sportsbooks could see a decrease in activity on their end. After all, a large swathe of their client base now has other options.

To compensate, they’ll probably run special promotional programs. This bodes well for you. Some of them will even rethink their payout procedures. They’ll find ways to get you your money in more of an accelerated fashion—anything to keep your business.

Play these inevitable offerings to your advantage. Capitalizing on the United State’s latest laws is a must. Betting domestically will seem like less of a risk, and in some cases, it will be more convenient. But overseas sportsbooks aren’t going anywhere. They’ll do come up with ways to keep luring you in. Let them.

At the bare minimum, most offshore sportsbooks just promise you more. The United States will be in the infancy of a new era for the next decade or so. Their sportsbooks may not deliver as many props, virtual poker games, casinos, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which are the Safest Sports-Betting Sites?

Read our more extensive reviews for the best answer. Generally, though, it’s best to stick with the biggest brands: Bovada, MyBookie, BetOnline, TopBet and 5Dimes—sites like these.

Can I use my credit card online?

Yes! But it also depends. Some sportsbooks still aren’t accepting credit cards. Others only take a handful of bank-backed cards. Sportsbooks don’t want to deal with the processing fees and have always worried about payment being refuted by certain banks. Expect to see more sites identify this as acceptable payment now that the United States as a whole is softening on the gambling front.

When can I place my bet online?

Anytime! You’ll need to place single-game wagers before they actually start, but most sportsbooks now bring you live in-game/in-match betting, where you can gamble on the outcome of a particular contest after it’s already underway. The introduction of mobile betting apps also makes it worlds easier to place wagers whenever you please.

How does a betting site know where I am?

Most modern computers allow sites to use your location, which they normally identify with built-in GPS signals or IP addresses. That’s how certain sportsbooks block citizens of the United States, but not international gamblers.

Can I bet with my cell phone?

Of course! Mostly every sportsbook worth their salt has a betting app these days. As long as you’re account is set up, you’ll be able to make deposits, place wagers and call for payouts from where. Be on the lookout for professional sportsbooks coming up with their own version of these apps, so that they can capitalize off those who are willing to invest in mid-game bets.

What currencies can I bet with online?

All of them, basically. Though the variety of deposit options will change from sportsbook to sportsbook, every site tends to have an assortment of methods from which you can chose: Credit card, personal check, cashier’s check, money order, wire transfer, direct bank account withdrawals, prepaid cards, bitcoin, etc. If one sportsbook doesn’t have the method you’re looking for, you should be able to find another one that does.

How soon can I cash out my winnings?

It depends. If your sportsbook doesn’t have a minimum withdrawal amount, you can summon one however you want. Granted, this doesn’t apply to any potential bonuses. Sportsbooks usually attach rollover policies to any free money they give away. For example, if they give you an extra $100 with your initial $100 deposit, you often need to bet that bonus 12 times—for a total of $1,200—before it’s eligible to be withdrawn. Getting your own money that isn’t tied to the initial incentive won’t demand such measures. Just be prepared to wait for your funds to arrive. The turnaround time varies by sportsbook and withdrawal method.

What types of wagers can I place online?

What age can do I have to be to legally bet online?

The answer to this will be differ depending on the state. For most of the USA’s 50 locations, though, you need to be 21 years of age or older before setting foot in a consider. Some, however, allow for 18-year-old bettors. When in doubt, default to your state law.

Why can I not use some web wallets?

Processing fees factor into everything. Some of these third-party intermediaries charge sportbooks a fee, in addition to charging you one. Plus, because everything’s digital, it’s harder to recoup a fraudulent transaction.

Federal Wire Act

The Wire Act dates back several decades, but it’s the 2011 ruling in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court Of Appeals that sports bettors should pay attention to.

That’s because this ruling made the Wire Act pertain only to betting on sports. What this law stipulates is that no form of wire communication can be used by gambling businesses to process a bet or wager made. Again though, the focus of this law is on the business, and not the bettor. Also, this only applies to states where sports betting is not legal.

This is something else you can expect to turn the other way in light of the new Supreme Court ruling. Though the Federal Wire Act is still in effect for now, it will likely dissipate into nothingness as the rush to legalize sports betting in more than half the U.S. continues.

Something else to consider: Even if your state describes sports gambling as illegal, it needs to explicitly call out online wagering. If it doesn’t you could be able to make deposits and withdrawals from offshore sportsbooks without much of an issue.

We hope you will find the content on this site very useful! Betting on sports is a passion that we all share, and we are proud to give back to the online community! Note that all the sites listed on this site have been reviewed in-depth by our team, and that we firmly stand behind our top recommended online bookies!